I feel like I should begin this posting with an apology. There are so many people, just in the US, that are facing real issues with winter weather. A couple of friends used to live in Alaska. They are doubtless laughing at how people in the Texas Gulf region react when three snowflakes managed to fall from the sky and hang around for more than 30 seconds. The weather was 60°F yesterday when they started announcing school closings.
I’m not entirely sure that that is an overreaction, though. We really have absolutely NO idea how to drive in cold weather. (Apologies to Michigan and New York, for example. For US, 20° is downright beastly cold. You probably faced this in November, you probably were wearing flip-flops and shorts, but we RARELY get below 40°. Laugh all you want!)
Of course, children are excited. There are 3 inch tall snowmen all over the city. Even adults are finding ways to have fun. They try to claim that slipping down a sidewalk is just like ice skating in the Galleria, except for being difficult to control. I’d be willing to bet that lots of minor medical clinics are full of people who didn’t figure out that the same stuff that we put into glasses of iced tea can make falls and bruises likely. Until they landed on their southern exposure…
I remember one Christmas that was in the mid-80s. I think they opened the subdivision pool. Kids were riding bikes and wearing rollerskates, using skateboards and doing all sorts of fun things. There were concerts at the beaches in Galveston.
This is the second time this season that actually felt like winter. Three weeks ago, give or take a week or two, we had another snowpocalypse. Like today and tomorrow, homeless people refused to go into shelters. Several died. I don’t know what we can do to help that kind of situation. People do have the freedom to decide where to sleep, but the cost can be so high. How do families and friends find those that they love who are out of the street? What if the folks on the street want nothing to do with the friends and family who might be searching for them.
All my training is not prepared me to give an answer to that. I’ll keep looking for answers and I will keep praying. Something that we are overlooking is probably part of the answer. I just don’t know what it is yet…
This is even affecting four-legged furry family members. I’m not sure what Cooper thinks of this, but he has been growling at the door and barking at the windows today. I don’t know if he is hearing something in the wind, or hears other creatures trying to stay warm. He has been very restless. Part of it is that he has been trying to convince his people to take them for a walk most of the day. My nephew did take him, and I think they enjoyed themselves, but it didn’t seem to be quite as long a walk as usual.
This weekend, it is supposed to be in the 70s again. We will be able to get back to living a normal winter life in this area.